


Her Life

by SpyroTF



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drama, Feels, Gen, Missing Scene, POV Darth Vader, Psychological Drama, Psychology, post-ROTS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24001951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpyroTF/pseuds/SpyroTF
Summary: Vader’s POV in the final scene of The Clone Wars.
Kudos: 39





	Her Life

He can feel it there, in front of him, calling out to him; a broken echo of a presence long gone.

He follows its voice, his boots sinking deep into snow, until the call becomes so deafening that he can no longer hear anything else. It is there, right under his feet; asking and begging and pleading to be found.

He goes down on one knee and picks it up from the ground, handling it with more care than he should. His gloved fingers run over the rusty metal surface, brushing off the snow; a meaningless action he should not have allowed. Gripping the hilt with both of his hands, he points it up and presses the emitter button.

It does not surprise him when the blade immediately springs to life, still in perfect working condition. Others would probably call it a miracle, but to him, it is a mere testament to his own skill. After all, he did put a lot of time and care into constructing it—into constructing them both.

_This weapon is your life._

He lowers the blade and looks up to the sky.

For the first time in years, he finds himself plagued with indecision.

He knows he should destroy it. There are too many memories attached to it. Memories that are no longer his. Having it back in his possession could make him believe otherwise. He cannot let that happen.

He should destroy it.

Or perhaps he could give it to the Inquisitors to corrupt instead. Not a month seems to pass without one of them losing their weapon due to their own insufferable incompetence. It would be wise to have a replacement already prepared in advance.

And if not, then he could simply take it apart and use the parts in his own designs. Now that all mined kyber crystals are wasted on that ludicrous battlestation project, good ones have become incredibly hard to come by. And he knows this crystal is a good one. He picked it himself.

Yes. Destroying the weapon would be a simple waste of resources. He will find use for it; will make sure that it serves one last purpose.

Satisfied, he deactivates the lightsaber and walks away.

* * *

Later, he finds himself in the artifact room of his fortress on Mustafar. It is a small, dimly lit vault, holding a collection of holocrons, wayfinders and other items of interest. Hanging on the wall, there are several lightsabers here as well; trophies he claimed after killing their owners.

But he does not put it next to them. Instead, he walks past them to the other end of the room. The wall there is lined up with storage boxes of various sizes, stacked on top of each other in rows. He makes a short waving gesture, and a miniature container emerges floating from behind them, which then lands into his hand. He enters the container’s lock combination—8108—and watches as it opens with a soft hissing noise.

His gaze then shifts to the hilt in his other hand. After regarding it for a few moments, he places the metal cylinder next to the only other object inside. It is a short string of silka beads.

Vader closes the container and never opens it again.


End file.
